Process for producing wrought metal



July 21, 1925.

E. F. BLESSING PROCESS FOR PRODUCING WROUGHT METAL Orifginaliled Jan- 8. 1924 INVENToR.-

ATTORNEY:

Patented July 21, 1925.

UNITED sflfn'l?us PATENT QFFICE.

EDG-All Ff- 13.1412351111@ F EAS-'1f QRNQE, NEW J PROCESS FOR BEODUCING WBOUGV-HT METAL.

OriginalV application filed'J'anuary 8, 1924, Serial No. 684,923. Y Divided and this application led July 5,

1924. serial no. 724,253.

T0 all whom it M603/ concern:

Beit known that I', Encan F. BLEssING,

a citizen of the Uni-ted States, residing at' East Orange, in the county ofEsseX and State of N ew Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes for Producing l/Vrought Metal, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to processes particularly adapted for the production of wrought iron, and will be best understood from the following description and the annexed drawings showing an illustrative form of apparatus by which my no-vel process maybe practised.

My present application is a division of my copending' application Serial No. 684,- 923, led January S, 1924.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of my illustrativeform of apparatus; Fig. 2 is a vertical middle section of the furnace shown in Fig.` 1 in re versed position, and Fig. 3ds the same furnace as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, but in the original position of Fig. 1.

Like reference characters indicate like parts'in the different views.

In the illustrative apparatus shown in the drawings, 1() is a furnace having a metal shell 11 and lined with the usual refractory lining. The furnace is provided with trunnions 13 and 14, mounted on supporting rollers 15, and provided with means for oscillating the furnace, such as the pulleys 16,

bywhich the furnace may be turned on the rollers 15. The trunnions 13 and 14 are hollow and may be made to communicate with the ducts or flues in stacks 17 at either end of the furnace. The fuel burners 18 may also be provided as shown more or less diagrammatically in Fig'. f1, or any other suitable means for heating .the furnace may be used.

A door 19, pivoted at 20, and 'held 4in position by any suitable fasteners, such as r21, is located in the side ofthe furnace. 'In the illustrative embodiment, the re.-` fractory vsurface or lining constitutes what are, in fact, a series of hearths or receptacles, each constructed so that a diiferent step Aof the cycle can be effectively carried out in each of lthese portions of the furnace.

Referring to the section shown in Fig. 2, the part; 22, struck on theV relatively long radius 22, is used as a refining hearth while the metal is principally in the liquid state. By reason of its long radius of curvature, this portion is relatively flat, so that when the. charge is resting on this portion 22, as it vwould be when the furnace is in the position shown in Fig. 2 the charge is spread over a larger area with a relatively shallow depth. Consequently, the oxidizing slag, which tends to float on the surface of the bath, will be brought into more intimate relation with the iro-n of the bath than if the portion 22 were relatively deep and of small area. A

At the leftfhand end of Fig. 2, a portion 23 of the refractory surface is shaped so as to be ed'ective in the second operation, that of turning' the metal. Preferably, I arrange this portion of the hearth so that it has a relatively abrupt termination, as at 24, with a part on a radius 23 arranged to connect the. relatively flat portion 22 with the abrupt portion 24, the latter being struck on thel radius 24. Preferably, for the sake of uniformity, I make the righthand end of the furnace, as shown in Fig. 2, of' the same shape as the left-hand endA of Fig. 2, though this will not be essential, and in some cases may not be desirable.

In the illustrative embodiment, opposite the relatively fiat portion 22, I provide a hailing section which, preferably, is a more or less semifspherical recess or pocket 25, with its surface connecting with the surface 24, preferably so as to avoid any abrupt curves, but also preferably arranged so that there will be sufficient curvature to provide an arch for locking in the refractory lining.

In my preferred forni, I make the sides of the furnace as shown best in F ig. 1 tapering toward each other from the flat section 22 to the balling section 2.5 for reasons to be point ed ont more fully hereinafter. In the illustra-tive form` the hailing section 2 5 is removably ,connected to the shell 11 by means ofV stud bo-lts 26 passing through the removable shell 27 supporting the lining Of the balling section 25. If desired, the removable shell 27 may be hinged to be removable instead 4of being bodily removable, as illustra-ted. I preferably make this balling section removable so that the lining thereof may be readily replaced and, moreover, so that in the event that the iron has not been worked so as to produce a proper ball which may be `discharged through the dgor 1) in lll) the usual manner, the balling section 25 may be dropped to remove the charge from the furnace,

lVith the furnace just described, the molten iron and the oxidizing slag or reagent are charged in the furnace when it is in the position shown in Fig. 2, and the charge melted and the furnace rocked back and forth to cause the thorough mixture of the slag and the iron. The door 19 is preferably positioned so that the charge or bath will be carried across the door during this refining operation. ln order to seal the door, l preferably wash the cinder around the door before the furnace is charged with iron.

After the refining process is substantially completed and the iron begins to drop, due to the elimination of the major part of its carbon or shortly thereafterI but before it is welded into a mass, the furnace is rolled to a position approximately 900 from that shown in Fig. 2, with the charge on the portions 223 and 24. The iron is now coming to nature and should be turned to b-ring the particles which have been on the bottom to the top, so that the remaining portion of the carbon and other impurities can be contacted by the fia-me and the slag. With the furnace in this po-sition, it is rocked back and forth, so that the charge passes up the abrupt portion 2a, which obviously will cause it to turn over, this ope ation being assisted by the narrowing of the portions 23 and 24 because of the angle of the side walls of the furnace. During this turning operation, additional heat is supplied, as is usual, and when the iron is ready to ball, the furnace is turned quickly into the position shown in Fig. 3, which causes the charge to slide into the balling section 25 and, because the iron is now plastic and the particles will c-ohere by mere contact and weight, the entire mass will be turned into a spongy ball, which can then be discharged through the door 19 by turning the furnace through 90". It will be noted that the balling section 25 is also narrower ,than the `portion 24, and this, of course, crowds the ends of the charge inward to tend to make a more or less rounded form or ball. Preferably, l make this balling section 25 more or less hemispherical, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, but somewhat the same results will be obtained by merely continuing the angle of the side walls to the furnace downward in Fig. 1, with a more or less fiat bottom to the balling section in the direction of the axis of rotation of the furnace.

If desired, the ball may be further oompacted by turning the furnace so that the ball will pass from the balling section 25 back over the surface 23 and the surface 22 to the door 19, instead of ldirectly from the balling section 25 to the door 19.

lt will also be obvious that many of the steps.

advantages of my invention could be obtained by modifying one or more of the sections. F or instance, the advantages of the lateral narrowing of the furnace from the part which is used as a refining section to the part which is used as the balling section would be obtained regardless of the shape which the furnace may have in a plane at right-angles to the axis of rotation. For instance, the balling section 25 may be applied to a furnace which is otherwise cylindrical in outline, although preferably l use the form illustrated in order to get a relatively shallow bath during the refining operation to accelerate that operation. Furthermore, it would be advantageous in a furnace which is entirely cylindrical and without any pocket or recess for the balling if the lateral walls were angled so as to produce a fur nace which would be wide at one part and narrower at another, because in such a furnace, the relatively wide part could be used for the refining operation and the relatively narrow part for the turning and balling lt will also be understood that while the particular shape which I have given is my preferred form, the relative dimensions of the several sections of the furnace and the degree of curvature may be widely varied without departing from my invention.

lVhile l have described my preferred form of furnace for carrying out my process, it will be understood that other forms may be used, if desired.

I claim:

1. An improvement in the art of puddling iron consisting in first agitating a broad shallow body of molten metal and slag by imparting frictional supporting action, then deepening and laterally reducing the body and continuing such action.

2. An improvement in the art of puddling iron consisting in first agitating a broad shallow body of molten metal and slag by imparting alternating frictional supporting action, then deepening and laterally reducing the body and continuing such action.

3. An improvement in the art of puddling iron consisting in first agitating a broad shallow body of molten metal and slag by imparting alternating frictional supporting action, then deepening and laterally reducing the body and continuing such action, with alternating` variable resistance whereby to effect turning over of the mass.

et. An improvement in the art of puddling iron consisting in first agitating a broad shallow body of molten metal and slag by imparting alternating frictional movement while supporting the mass, then changing the form of the body by increasing its depth and reducing its width, and continuing the movement to ,effect turning.

5.' An improvement in the art of puddling iron consisting in first agitating a broad shallow body of molten metal and slagby imparting alternating 'frictional movement While supporting the mass to bring` the oxidizing slag` into intimate relation with the iron of the bath, and then increasing the depth While reducing` the Width of the mass during continuance of said movement.

6. An improvement in the art of puddling iron consisting in first agit-ating a broad shallowV body of molten metal and slag by imparting alternating rictional movement While supporting the mass to bring the oxidizing slag into intimate relation With the iron of the bath, and then increasing the depth While reducing the Width of the mass during continuance of said movement, and effecting alternating opposing resistancein dii'erent degrees vvhereby to effect turning of the mass.

7. An improvement in the art of puddling iron consisting in first agitating a broad shallow body of molten metal and slag by imparting alternating rictional movement While supporting the mass to brin g5 the oxidizing slag into intimate relation with the iron of the bath, and then increasing the depth While reducing the Width of the mass during continuance of said movement, and eitecting alternatingopposing resistance in different degrees whereby to effect turning of the mass With final balling.

8. The method of puddling iron consisting in alternately :ngitating` a broad shallow mass of molten metal and slag, then deepening and laterally reducing the mass While continuing the agitation, and simultaneously etl'ecting its turning.

9. The method of puddling iron consisting in alternately agitating a broad shallow mass of molten metal and slag, then deepening and laterally reducing the mass While continuing the agitation, and simultaneously effecting its turning, and then further compacting the mass and continuing its agitation to effect balling.

10. The steps in the process of producing Wroughlt metal consisting in agitating a shallow batch of molten metal and oxidizing slag` Within a suitable chamber until the metalloids and other impurities in the metal become substantially Jfreely oxidized, then turning the metal until the mass becomes plastic, with final balling, While successively compacting the mass.

il. The steps in the process of producing Wrought metal consisting in agitating a shallow batch of molten metal and oxidizing slag Within a suitable chamber until the metalloids and other impurities in the metal become substantially freely oxidized, then turningthe metal by shifting its supporting bott-om and continuing agitation by alternating moven'ient with varying opposing resistance until the mass becomes plastic, With iinal balling.

12. The steps in the process of producing Wrought metal consisting in agitating a shallow batch of molten metal and oxidizing slag Within a suitable chamber until `the metalloids and other impurities in the metal become substantially freely oxidized, then turning the metal by shifting its supporting bottom and continuing agitation by alternating movement with varying opposing resistance until the mass becomes plastic, and then further compacting the mass in ball form by continued agitation and accompanying increase in depth and late lal restriction.

EDGAR F. BLESSING. 

